Rookie Of The Year Murray State coach Tevester Anderson, 61, proves it's never too late to begin

Like most college athletes, the basketball players at MurrayState were eager to gauge just how much their lives were goingto change under Tevester Anderson, who on the verge of 62 is theoldest rookie head coach in Division I hoops. So last March,when the team gathered to order its new uniforms, the playersdecided to test former assistant Anderson by secretly addingthree inches of material to the cuffs of their shorts. When thenew, ultrahip unis showed up a few weeks later, forward IsaacSpencer tore open the box and held the gold-and-navy shorts upto his waist.

"Daisy Dukes," Spencer says now. "It looked like they mailed usIndiana's shorts by accident." Anderson, who's learned a trick ortwo during his 37 years on the sidelines, denies he had the orderintercepted on its way to the tailor and had the pants shortened.The players are not so sure. Says Spencer, "We all just satthere, looking like, Uh-oh, what have we gotten into with thisold guy?"

Anderson is giving new meaning to the adage "Better late thannever." At week's end the Racers, who play good old-fashionedman-to-man pressure defense and decidedly modern up-tempooffense, were 23-4 and on course to win their 11th Ohio ValleyConference title since 1988. After they defeated EasternIllinois 94-89 in double overtime last Saturday, they also ownedthe nation's longest current home court winning streak, 42victories. Spencer, 6'6" in his too-short shorts, leads the teamwith 16.4 points and 7.0 rebounds a game. Murray State is thekind of mid-major team that emerges each March to playCinderella at the Big Dance and waltz off with a victory or two,providing momentary celebrity for coach and team.

"The wait for a head coaching job was well worth it for me," saysAnderson, who turns 62 on Feb. 26. "Now that I'm here, it feelsbetter having happened the way it did. God just had a differentkind of blueprint for me, I guess."

Indeed, after graduating from what is now Arkansas at Pine Bluffwith a premed degree in 1962, Anderson passed on medical schooland spent 18 seasons as a high school coach in Canton, Miss.,and Atlanta, where he was a pioneer in helping integrate highschool sports. "I learned you can save just as many lives as acoach and a teacher as you can as a doctor," he says. In 1970,in front of 10,000 fans at the Jackson (Miss.) Coliseum,Anderson's all-black team from Rogers High beat all-white SouthLeake 79-56 in a game that led to regular matchups betweenall-black and all-white teams. "To any kid who grew up in theSouth, Coach Anderson is a hero," says Spencer, a native ofMontgomery, Ala. "That's what matters, not his age."

In 1980 Auburn coach Sonny Smith hired Anderson as an assistant.From 1986 to 1995 Anderson worked on Hugh Durham's staff atGeorgia; then Mark Gottfried hired him as an assistant at MurrayState. When Gottfried left to take the Alabama job last spring,Anderson, who has never applied for a coaching job in his life,was promoted to run the Racers.

The challenge hasn't aged him. Anderson works out on a stairclimber for an hour every day, and for him 16-hour workdays arethe norm. "Getting this job energized me," he says. "The daythey named me head coach, my adrenaline started flowing, and ithasn't stopped yet. I want to coach eight to 10 more years atleast." That would put him in good company in Division Ibasketball. There are 15 coaches older than Anderson roaming thesidelines, including UTEP's Don Haskins (68), Fresno State'sJerry Tarkanian (68) and Temple's John Chaney (67).

"He just got a late start," Durham says of his former assistant."But he's a grinder; he just hung in there. [The hiring] showedthat he was judged on his ability, not on his age."

Anderson's first act as a head coach was to hire Bill Hodges,55, and former Kentucky assistant and Mississippi State coachJim Hatfield, 56. Hatfield had been serving as athletic directorat the University of the Virgin Islands. Anderson coaxed Hodges,who coached Indiana State to the national championship game in1979, back to the college ranks. Hodges was in Fort Myers, Fla.,teaching middle school and helping out with the local highschool team when Anderson called him. Hodges was burned out onthe college game and needed a pep talk from Anderson beforecommitting. "The kids might call us all a bunch of old farts,"says Hodges, "but what's happened this year has restored myfaith in coaching and made me love basketball again."

Recently, while leafing through the Racers' media guide, Hodgeswas tickled to discover that his age had mistakenly been listedas 46. Maybe it wasn't much of an error. These days everyone atMurray State, including the old coaches, is feeling young.

COLOR PHOTO: PATRICK MURPHY-RACEY

"I learned you can save as many lives as a coach and a teacher asyou can as a doctor."